Without limiting the scope of the invention, its background is described in connection with a line management device to manage one or more care lines to a patient. Patients in hospitals, in home care, etc., often require patient care equipment (e.g., heart monitoring equipment, medical gas delivery equipment, infusion pumps, intravenous bags, equipment monitors, and defibrillators) to be in close proximity and often directly connected to the patient. These intravenous lines, cables, wires and tubes extend from the equipment to the patient and dangle or hang without intermediate support. Many of these lines are put into place or connected to the patient's body prior to the patient being transported. As such, the intravenous lines, cables, wires, and tubes are intertwined, displaced, or entangled, requiring careful tracing to determine the identity of each line, thereby compromising the ability of the attending caregivers to adequately treat the patient. Often these lines are secured to a patient support device, a floor, a wall, an equipment support, or other device by a fastener, tape, or other means to prevent unintentional movement of the lines or tubes to prevent tripping, accidental movement or snagging one of the lines.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,766,289 discloses a patient line management device to manage one or more patient care lines. The line management device includes a line manager coupled to a support. The support is adapted to be coupled to a patient support.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,315,759 entitled “Protective Cover for Intravenous Lines and Other Elongated Members,” discloses a protective cover used to surround one or more elongated members such as a plurality of intravenous lines. The cover may be used to cover or protect baby crib rails, bicycle frame sections, handles, and other items wherein the cover assumes the form of a generally cylindrical hollow tube composed of a flexible, resilient material such as closed-cell foam. The tube includes a slit running lengthwise down the tube, enabling the tube to be placed around and over the elongated member by spreading the slit to expose a pair of adjacent, opposing surfaces, each with a length equal to the length of the tube and a width equal to the thickness of the wall. The tube preferably further includes means, other than the tube itself, for maintaining the tube in position around the member. In one configuration, the means for maintaining the tube in position around the member includes an adhesive on one or both of the opposing surfaces, which may be covered with a release layer to expose the adhesive. A separate release layer may be used to cover the slit as well. The means for maintaining the tube in position around the member may also include at least one elongated adhesive strip disposed on the inner wall of the tube. When used to cover and protect intravenous lines, the release layer covering the slit, or a portion of the outer wall covered by the release layer may include one or more messages concerning the use, or re-use of the cover.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,876,371 entitled “Intravenous Tube Holder,” discloses an intravenous tube holder for use in a trauma unit or similar environment which includes at least one element, each element preferably containing a plurality of tracks, each track being designed to secure a separate intravenous tube, said element further having a writing surface on the same side of the element as the tracks, with a writing surface next to each track for identifying the content and/or other dosage information identifying the contents of the intravenous tube therein. Each element further has a projection on the side opposite the tracks and writing surfaces for attaching the element to a support means. Each element has a male extension and female indent for interconnecting to additional elements so as to accommodate a greater number of intravenous tubes.